Indsur Global puts Rs 150-cr expansion plan on hold

Indsur Global, a leading manufacturer of power infrastructure and other type of castings, has decided to put its on-going casting expansion plan at Vadodra in Gujarat on hold following huge dumping of such products in the country from Chinese manufacturers. As a part of its expansion and modernisation plans, Indsur Global had plans to invest Rs 150 crore to expand its existing foundry capacity. For the first phase, it had invested and installed robotics and other state of art equipments, which is comparable to any best plant globally. The first phase has already entailed an investment of Rs 50 crore, which is now operational.

However, the company has now decided to put further investment on hold on account of cheap imports from China. Chairman Indsur Group SM Lodha, said, "Generally, the foundry/casting industry is a neglected sector and has no-level playing field as compared to China, which benefits due to subsidised power tariff, subsidised interest rates, flexible labour laws etc. The situation has further worsened due to slowdown in Chinese manufacturing sector where the government is now subsiding 12.5% on foundry products which in turn has started affecting the Indian companies. There are more than 5,000 units in SME sector in India producing over 7.50 million tonne per year of casting products employing almost about over Five lakh direct and indirect workers. These foundries make different type of products which are used in power infrastructure, automobiles, railways, construction and various other industries besides exporting to various countries thereby earning precious foreign exchange.

Lodha further adds that”Serious competition and cost related problems have resulted in to closure of many foundries in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and other parts of country. But this has gone unnoticed. Closure of units has affected the livelihood of large number of workers across India.